Humira Faces Setback in Biosimilar Competition: Report

Since early 2023, ten biosimilars have entered the market, yet AbbVie’s branded drug, Humira, continues to dominate most of the market. Despite a slew of biosimilar launches beginning last year, Humira has managed to retain a significant share of its lucrative market, although the prominence of the drug is starting to wane.

Samsung Bioepis has been monitoring the impact of Humira biosimilar launches in its latest market report, revealing that Humira’s market share has decreased to 82%. Sandoz’s Hyrimoz, under the Cordavis co-label, has driven most of the biosimilar gains. Cordavis is CVS Health’s new biosimilar subsidiary, which launched with Hyrimoz as its first product.

In April, CVS Caremark removed branded Humira from its national commercial formularies, leading to a surge in Hyrimoz prescriptions, according to Evercore ISI analysts. As of April 25, Hyrimoz accounted for 82% of Humira biosimilar prescriptions, based on IQVIA data. This successful launch contributed to a 6% revenue increase for Sandoz in the first quarter.

AbbVie has also partnered with Cordavis on a co-branded version of Humira, which holds roughly a quarter of the market for Cordavis-labeled products, according to Samsung Bioepis.

In terms of pricing, Coherus BioSciences’ Yusimry and Samsung Bioepis’ Organon-partnered Hadlima offer the lowest wholesale acquisition costs, with prices around 86% lower than Humira. Many companies have also adopted a dual pricing strategy. For instance, Boehringer Ingelheim’s interchangeable Humira biosim Cyltezo was launched with two pricing options: a branded version with a 5% discount from Humira and an unbranded version with an 81% markdown. Some payers favor higher list prices to maximize rebate extraction.

Despite these efforts, Boehringer Ingelheim's Cyltezo had only garnered 1,487 prescriptions by April, following its July 2023 launch, compared to nearly 2.8 million Humira prescriptions in that same period, according to IQVIA data reported by Reuters. This slow start led to layoffs in Boehringer Ingelheim’s Cyltezo customer-facing team as they transitioned to a hybrid model.

The struggle to compete with an established, high-selling product like Humira, even with significant discounts, is evident. A Spherix Global Insights analysis in September found that prescribers had not fully embraced these new biosimilars, with dermatologists showing the highest level of resistance to change.

AbbVie had anticipated Humira's declining sales and planned to shift its focus to its newer immunology medications, Skyrizi and Rinvoq. Last year, Humira's sales fell to $14.4 billion from a record $21.2 billion the previous year. In the most recent quarter, Humira sales plummeted by 40%, while Skyrizi nearly matched it with a $2 billion quarterly revenue.

While biosimilars have made significant strides in the market, the transition away from established drugs like Humira remains challenging. Companies continue to experiment with pricing strategies and partnerships to carve out a share of the market dominated by entrenched players.